You Think You Love Me
by BleedingHeartsoftheWorldUnite
Summary: Set fifteen years after "Enter at Your Own Risk", recap inside, Magnus and Alec are worried when their daughter begins having nightmares, so they look into the cause, but what they find could lead to the end of life as they know it... Incomplete.
1. Nightmares

The room was black, as if it had yet to be made from nothingness, a stuffed vulture glaring with beady eyes stood against a high bay window. Heavy, floor-length curtains hung from the window, the red velvet drawn tight so nothing got through into the void. The air was odorless, but the taste of rot was everywhere. Nexus stood in the middle of the room, a white satin dress billowing in the faint breeze. The air was cold, so she had her arms crossed firmly over her chest, her teeth chattering in the back of her head as she walked to the window to open the curtain and let the light in. Eying the vulture in distrust, it looked back her, breathing slowly. She almost gasped in fear, but Nexus had a sinking feeling that if she made a single sound, something terrible would happen. Watching the living bird, she began to pull the curtain back, but the bird suddenly attacked her, pecking and clawing at her face. It tore at her skin, scratching her eyes. A frail voice cried out from the shadows at the vulture.

"Stop, let her see me! Let her see what I am, what this body has become!" The voice commanded regally, a hint of bitterness stabbed through each syllable.

The vulture ceased its attack, returning it its perch. Nexus looked at herself, blood red as candle wax running in twisting patterns across her skin, bright bursts of it blooming on the white material of her dress. She shook her head, opening the curtain. The room beyond was pure white, hung with powder blue strips. A bed, laid on top of a slab of white marble, was engraved with lines of Purgatoric, sky blue sheets layered over the top. A gauzy veil separated the bed from the room, a slit fluttering open along the side. The windows were covered in here as well, and the air grew rapidly colder as Nexus approached the bed.

"Wait, that is close enough..." The voice cracked, speaking from behind her, "Don't look at the bed... Just turn around."

Turning, she was met with the back of a woman facing her. The woman's hair was like black rain, strands of white spilling at odd intervals down to her thighs. The woman was thin, too thin to have her internal organs intact, an ash-colored corset binding her majestic navy coat to her body. Silver bands wound up the woman's arms, pinning the shimmering material to her, a white long sleeved dress poking up from the low collar of the jacket.

"Nexus, my sweet," The woman spun slowly around, her body stiff as if it didn't want to obey her, "don't be afraid."

The woman's face was almost as white as her low-cut dress, her cheeks hollow and sticking out like pitched tents on either side of a face that was once beautiful. Her eyes were gold, the irises a dim gray, filmed over by blindness. Bags hung from her eyes like double-ended leeches, a tracery of veins masking her visible body like lilac lace. A black velvet choker was tied around her neck, dangling limply was a silver star connected to a crescent moon. Her lips were probably painted black, but the chunky scarlet stain trailing from her mouth, down her chin, over her dress all the way to the floor made it impossible to tell. The wall of gore spilling down her was fresh and nearly solid, explaining why she was so thin.

Looking at the woman, Nexus screamed.

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

"Pass the milk," Nexus stabbed violently at her cereal, scowling at the other end of the table where Magnus sat with the milk carton.

Her eyes were dark, almost bruised-looking**, **ringed with slim circlets of exhaustion, and her father did not fail to notice, "Did you sleep at all last night?"

She shrugged, "I woke up half-way through the night, and I wasn't able to get back to sleep. Milk?"

Alec remembered what had happened to Jace eighteen years ago, when Lilith had resurrected Clary's brother Sebastian, "That's more than a night's worth of insomnia. Nexus, you have to tell us what's happened, or what is happening could get much worse."

"It's nothing like that... She was already dead," She sighed, crumbling underneath her fathers' concerned gazes, "the truth is, I have been having nightmares these past few weeks, and in every single one, I start out in some undefined black room, a window and stuffed vulture the only things visible. It's freezing, so I reach to open the window, and it attacks me, but a voice calls it off. That's where it ended the first night, but last night, I was able to open the window, and see what was behind the curtain."

Magnus, who had been listening intently, looked alarmed, "What did you see?"

"A bedroom. It was full of white light, and a bed on stone," She shook her head, deeming the room's details unimportant, "the same voice who called to the vulture spoke to me, telling me to turn around and to be unafraid. I turned, and I saw a woman."

"What did she look like?" Alec was following the story as if his life depended on it, which in a sense, it did.

The sunken flesh and dead skin flashed across Nexus' mind, "She wasn't facing me at first, so all I saw was long back hair, lined with white. When she turned, her skin was almost as white as her dress, and was stretched over bones and veins. Her eyes were gold, filmed to a dim gray, and below that were thick black bags, like slugs. Her necklace, it was very expensive looking, made of black velvet and hung with a silver star and moon. But the terrible part was her body; it was falling in on itself, only a little more meatier than a skeleton. Blood was pouring from her lips, all the way to the floor."

Magnus and Alec exchanged meaningful glances, the former speaking in a low, soothing tone, "Lollipop, that woman was an old friend of mine... And your birth mother."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

That's a way to kick this fic off, huh? Fifteen years later, and poor Nexus is seeing the corpse of her mother? And with a poll? (Do you see Clary and Jace as parents?) Well, in case this fic gets any new readers, allow me to explain the situation. Fifteen years ago, three after City of Fallen Angels/conclusion of the Mortal Instruments, Alec is away on a crap ton of missions, and suddenly Clary and Jace show up at Magnus' apartment with a baby and a letter. The letter is from Magnus' old friend Devon Grey, naming him as the Godfather of her baby girl, Nexus Bane. She has passed away, so now Magnus is the father of her baby, and the minute he finds out, Alec comes back. Accepting the child at once, they discuss taking the next stage in their relationship; moving in together. The end of "Enter At Your Own Risk", sees the family going home together.

Told you all that Magnus and them would return!


	2. Goodbye

Nexus fell back against the chair, shock numbing her insides so a neon fishnetted pair of arms hung limply over the metal sides of the seat, two black leather boots slipping down the silvery designer dinning chair to slide over the white lotus-patterned tile, "My... Mother?"

Alec and Magnus had told Nexus of her mother, briefly, and she had never pressed them for more information. As far as they were concerned, they were her parents in every way that mattered, and she was proud of them even in the worst of times. What shocked her was the fact that she should be seeing her mother now, and presumably as intact as she was the day she had died - logic dictating that no fifteen year old corpse could still have its skin and clothes. Being only one at the time her biological mother had died, it was highly improbable that she should remember anything of that time, but what else could it have been if not her home?

"I gave your mother that necklace," Magnus glanced at Alec, quick to add in, "a very long time ago. Nexus, the room you saw your mother in, were there subtle blue tapestries of fairy lore embroidered with silver hanging from the walls?"

In the dream, the details were just there, so commonplace and familiar that the room seemed be background. But really, what Nexus had seen of the house was full of splendor and spoke of vast amounts of riches. The curtains, all voluminous velvet, were well-cared for and had black tassels fringing the bottom, the windows gleaming silver even in the night, and the frames sparkled with polish, slicking over intricate cravings of demonic and angelic runes alike. The walls were high, smooth, and greyish-white marble that domed with gilded roses, stained glass depicting epic battles past, and swirls of silver stars surrounding the entire area. The floor was cherry wood, carpeted with oriental rugs and scribbled with crayon. Pictures were hung on the walls, mostly hand-drawn ones of flowers and people, but the odd photograph graced the tops of fancy end tables. Generous vases full of flowers bloomed brightly here and there, peppering the cold room with splashes of life.

She responded deliberately, thinking only of the grand room and its simplistic purity, "Yes. How did you know?"

Alec answered her, catching them both off guard, lacing a broad, satiny sable leather cuff to his forearm, "Before your mother died, Magnus and I went to visit her so he could try to heal her, but..."

"She died." Nexus had never known her mother, only seeing a picture or two and hearing a select number of stories from Magnus, so there was nothing for her to miss, only a vague void.

"No, I stupidly thought that I had succeeded," His voice was strained, and he seemed saddened by more than just failure, but he smiled at Alec as he braced his shoulder with a soft, reassuring smile, "it would seem that I had only succeeded in slowing whatever was killing her..."

"Whatever did kill her was something beyond even your skill." The Shadowhunter held Magnus, rightfully so, as one of the more powerful entities in the world, greater even than his own kind.

Magnus sighed at his partner's ill-timed compliment, bringing him in for a slow kiss, "Really Alexander, you must have the worst timing in the world."

Nexus was more than used to their displays of affection, so she just turned a blind eye, catching sight of the orange-backed clock behind Magnus' spiked head as he started to suck Alec's face off, "Crap, if I'm late, Jace is going to kill me!"

Though Alec may not have been related to him by blood, Jace was his brother and always would be, "Jace wouldn't actually kill you... Well, maybe he would."

Nexus rolled her eyes, sending the dirty dishes soaring into the sink with a aqua-colored snap of her spidery fingers, "Thanks. We'll talk about this later, alright?"

This was an important matter that should have received immediate attention, but they were all pressed for time, running on excruciatingly tight schedules, "I might be gone for a few days, the demon I'm hunting is traveling between certain boarders, so there may be difficulties down the line."

"And I have a mounting number of contracts to fulfill, all of which must be finished immediately." Magnus frowned deeply, suddenly thinking of Alec's sister, "Ask Isabelle if you can stay with her until we get back. I don't want you alone right now."

She grabbed her acid green backpack from beside the counter and slung it on her back, "I'll stay with Aunt Izzy until one of you gets back, I swear on my best friend's life." As if reading their minds, she hastily went on, "I know you guys are worried about me, but you can't put everything on hold for my sake. You made promises, promises that can't be broken. I'll be alright, you raised me to be strong and to take care of myself. And if I have another nightmare, I swear that I'll talk to Jace."

They were reluctant to let the matter go, but she had to leave yesterday, and they themselves only had a short time to prepare for their work, so they had to give an answer on the spot, "We'll be back as soon as possible."

Hugging them a million times each, Nexus stood by the front door, wishing them luck, "Come back safe, alright? You have a family to return for, so no dying!"

Alec poked her shoulder lightly, "The same goes double for you."

"Try to behave," Magnus tapped her nose, "and don't go getting yourself into any regrettable situations."

His cat-eyes gleamed as if he knew something, but Nexus pushed it away, twisting the burnished doorknob open with a last glance back, "I love you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

The house does NOT change, it its merely a combination of what was previously described. And yay, two reviews already! You guys rock! But now I feel some hardcore pressure to make this fic shine... I hope I'm up to the challenge!**  
><strong>


	3. Trapped Together with You

Closing the door, Nexus pulled out her slim, metallic pink, white-flowered cellphone from the side pocket of her bag, unrolled a pair of electric blue ear buds procured from the same pouch, and plugged them into the phone, scrolling through her music as she jogged. Finding a good work-out song, she stuffed the phone back into her backpack and broke into a gallop, freeing her mind to wonder.

Visions of her mother burst into being, one after another in an endless barrage of horror, all of which left the deceased with a look of grave sorrow. Of course she was sad - she was dead, and her daughter grew up never knowing her. That should make anyone sad. But no, that wasn't why she was melancholy, Nexus wasn't sure how she knew that, but she knew that her mother was plagued by something. Worried enough to break through the shields even the most powerful of demons couldn't scratch. That was impossible, so this must have been someone who had known her mother, known her and knew that she had a child. But who knew her mother? Everyone she had ever met assumed that she was Magnus' daughter, one or two thinking that Alec was her biological father, so then who could have known the truth? People thought that Alec had been her _biological_ father. _Her biological father_. That wasn't right either - Magnus had told her that he had died before she was even born.

"Going somewhere?" A deep, lulling male voice just passed puberty called out to Nexus, reaching for her shoulder before she could walk by.

Grabbing his wrist firmly in her left hand, she twisted his arm, elbowing his ribs with her other arm. Forced on his knees, the boy looked up at her through shaggy brownish-red locks with emerald green eyes, slouching to the ground and using his height to his advantage to knock her off balance. Pushing away from the ground with the balls of her feet, she righted herself, cutting through the air with a well-trained foot inches from his chin. A large, calloused hand was blocking her from connecting, and the person it was attached to was none too gentle throwing her leg down. The boy stuck his tongue out in triumph, earning a disapproving glare from the man.

"What in the Angel's name were you thinking, sparring in front of the Mundies!" His voice was a growl, contradicting of the angelic gold locks that fell just to the back of his neck.

Nexus and the boy shrank back from the man, "Sorry Jace."

He sighed, shoving them roughly up the stairs to the New York Institute before they could cause anymore damage, its disguised spires piercing the greying sky, fat droplets falling on the faces of passersby, a small number of whom had seen a flicker that was only a weakened glamor, "Jace, is... Was I late? Before Ben so rudely assaulted me?"

Ben looked at her indignantly, "Did her hear her? As if I would touch her outside of training!"

"Touch _me_? Pft, you're delusional if you actually think that I, the daughter of the High Warlock of Brooklyn, would even acknowledge you outside this place!" She was going to carry on, but the sight of a girl waiting in the elevator shut her up, "Ash!"

Ash was a year younger than Nexus, but you couldn't tell by looking. Her hair was pitch-black in dim lighting, but in the proper light, it was the color of coffee, and today it was shoved unceremoniously into a gigantic knot at the top of her head. Eyes the same color as her hair brightened when she saw Nexus, glossy red lips beaming at the sight of her best friend. Nexus, a few inches taller than her friend but a few pounds heavier, practically flattened her as she jumped into her arms, sending them both falling to the floor in a tangled heap. Ben and Jace stepped into the elevator, staring at the girls with identical looks of criticism.

"Nessy!" The shorter of the two stood, assisting the taller, darkly throwing daggers at Ben, "Bennett."

His eyes narrowed, "Ashley."

Dropping the staring contest in disinterest, Ash watched Nexus remove her ear buds and switch her phone to vibrate, "So, you're going to stay over this weekend?"

Nexus was unsurprised to hear that Ash already knew the plan, "My dad called your mom. Was Aunt Izzy mad?"

Jace answered, "Isabelle was thrilled, Simon on the other hand, wasn't. You really should come over more often."

Ben looked appalled by the idea, "That little-"

"Saint? Angel? Sweet girl?" Nexus offered, more to annoy Ben than anything else. "Take your pick, I've got more."

He mumbled something under his breath that sounded like 'trucking mutt', but went on to say, "Maybe compared to a Greater Demon."

"If it weren't for you being Jace's brother-in-law...!" Nexus cracked her knuckles threateningly.

"Scary." He mimicked a girl fainting in fright, "As if you would lay a finger on me."

Curling her hand into a fist, she laid five on him, slugging him good in the stomach, whispering in his ear so only he could hear, "Now you know better."

He grinned, a jagged canine extending over his lower lip, murmuring back, "You're only brave because you have back up."

"Ben," Jace warned him, "if you don't stop transforming, I'll put you back out in the rain."

Retracting his teeth to normal, Ben gave his brother an apologetic look, "Sorry."

"That you smell like wet dog?" Nexus hit a nerve, smiling pleasantly as if she had said nothing wrong.

Unaffected, he shrugged, "I don't."

"You do." She informed him as if she were doing a public service.

"Well you smell like," Ben sniffed the air, trying to distinguish what Nexus _did_ smell like, "like a girl."

"A girl? Really? I actually thought that I smelled like a cat." She snapped sarcastically.

Jace shook his head at the teens, "Every little thing gets you excited."

Just then, the door pinged open and the doors opened to reveal a gangly boy identical to Ash. He nodded at her and Nexus, turning to speak to Ben, "I watched that movie you gave me... It was horrible. There was no story, the filming was almost non-existent, and all that happened was some Mundie couple kept having sex with every person they met."

Nexus sniggered, "You do realize that Ben gave you a porno, don't you Max?"

Jace closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and walked off the elevator before the door closed, "Library in five."

Everyone gave him an affirmative, stepping out of the elevator. It was almost comical, becuase the door was already half-closed, and Ash stepped out like nothing, dragging her brother behind her. Nexus was about to get out next, but Ben cut her off. She wasn't having that, so she yanked him back against the wall, walking to the door only to have it close in her face. He groaned, sliding down the wall so that he was only a few inches taller than Nexus as opposed to a full head.

"This is your fault." She accused him, leaning against the opposite wall with her arms crossed.

He snorted, "How do you figure?"

"You wouldn't let me out first, so now we're both stuck in here." Nexus looked up at the reflective ceiling, wondering if she had been cursed.

"You could have just been civil and followed me," He pointed out her hypocrisy, amused at the way her face contorted, "but then, that would make you a lady, wouldn't it?"

Fed up, and maybe a little grouchy from a lack of sleep, she shoved him as hard as she could against the first vertical surface he came into contact with. He seemed to be expecting that, becuase he easily parried her, twirling her so that her back was to him, her chest rising and falling savagely against his arms. Knowing when she was beaten, Nexus settled down, but Ben didn't let her go. She tried to turn around, but he held her firmly in place, not giving an inch.

He bent over her shoulder, his breath warm against her neck, "What's wrong with you today? Usually it takes so much more to get you this upset... That time of the month?"

She hissed under her breath, "Surely your nose would have picked that up by now... Even I gave you that much credit."

"Joking aside - "

"Who's joking? I hate you." She managed to get free of his grip, "Now if you don't mind, I -"

Her words were cut off as she was flung back against the wall, a pair of strong hands holding her there, "I didn't know you thought about me so much."

"Idiot," She looked away, "how did you reach that conclusion?"

He smirked, ignoring her last comment, "Putting emotion into a thought, even a negative emotion, means that you care enough about something or someone to spare energy on. Did you know that?"

She jerked away from him, "You caught me. I think about you every night before I go to sleep. In _your_ dreams."

"I'd tell you to be a comedian, but you're not funny." He pressed the up button before the elevator even touched the floor.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Aw, nothing like a little friendly hatred in the morning! But why does she hate Ben so much? I bet you wonder why. If so, you'll have to wait for the next chapter. To clarify/remind/inform, Bennett is Luke's and Jocelyn's son, born a year before Nexus. Ash(ley) and Max are Isabelle's children, twins a year younger than Nexus.


	4. I See You

Magus sat in the kitchen after Nexus left, distractedly watching Alec put on the final pieces of his sable Shadowhunting gear. He was observing Alec's smooth, flowing movements, but his mind was on Nexus and her nightmares. She had been protected, as were all children by their own kind's customs, so this couldn't have been possession. And say for arguments sake that somehow that it were, who could have been doing it? No one outside Alec's circle of friends had known about Devon, so then who was left? Camille was hardly fond of Devon, and he doubted that her name had ever once come up in a conversation, so it couldn't have been done through her.

"What about Nexus' father? Her biological father." Alec cupped Magnus' face in his hands, smiling down at the man he knew better than he knew himself, "What about him?"

He placed his hand over the Shadowhunter's, "Devon's letter said that he was 'no more in this world'."

"Is it possible that these are just nightmares?" Alec was hopeful, hopeful in a way that any father would be on the brink of tragedy.

The warlock cast him a long glance, "I really hope so."

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Nexus glared at Ben, murder in her eyes, "You're an insufferable asshole, you know that? No, of course you don't, becuase no one will you tell you the truth... Well allow me the honors of telling you that you are the biggest - "

"What? What don't you think I don't already know? Just becuase my parents are who they are, do you really think that no body says anything to me? I've heard it all a thousand times!" His voice shook, yet there was a deadly stillness about his words that both frightened and humbled Nexus.

"Ben - "

He held his hand up, silencing her, "Save the pity for someone who could use it, alright Bane?"

Bane? Since when had he called her by her last name? "Ben - "

"Let me give you some advice," He was getting colder by the minute, "groveling is an unattractive trait."

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Glossed, powdered, glittered, and smelling like fruit, Nexus and Ash sat at the bar of the all ages club, Pandemonium. Max and Ben had split from them as soon as they were inside, Ash was making out with her current boy toy of the week, a young vampire with light hair that stood out on end as if he had been zapped by a spark plug, and Nexus was enjoying the trance music that pounded in the background, bouncing the rainbow of drinks on the tables and bar. Bored and feeling abandoned, Nexus sighed and looked into the crowd, catching a part in the waves of moving bodies. A surly Bennett was slouched against the wall, glaring into the crowd, and his loyal best friend was trying to convince him to let loose. Ben scowled in her direction, taking the acid-green drink from Max and downing it. Ben was still mad at her for earlier, and she didn't really blame him.

"The white one," A boy with wheat-colored hair sat down on the stool next to Nexus, pointing to a bottle on the shelf, the label written in German, "the MoonDust."

The bartender nodded, "Twenty-five."

Paying him for two, he took the drinks, giving the other to Nexus, and they slammed the thick, syrupy drinks back, the taste of sugar and caramel overwhelming the taste buds, "It was Karma, you know? I was a total bitch, and not only was I put in my place, but then my training session was a complete disaster."

Being knowledgeable on a number of subjects, Nexus knew that certain drinks affected her, if not the Children of Lilith, in a funny way. She knew also that MoonDust was like a strong suppressant to her kind, working like a tranquilizer - It would greatly decrease her powers and make her physically weak. Even knowing all of this, she drank the shot glass becuase Patrick had bought it for her. Not only was it rude to decline a gift, but she had had a crush on Patrick Kyle for as long as she could remember.

The boy, roughly seventeen, patted her shoulder comfortingly, "Have another fight with Ben? Man, I remember when you two used to be tighter than the pack. What happened?"

Nexus flashed a dejected half-smile, pulling off the black lace shrug that covered the top of her hot pink mini dress. His eyes went where she had wanted them to - to a thin scar going from the crease of her elbow to the base of her wrist. Above that was a sprinkling of smaller, fainter marks that trailed up her pale neck to her hairline, but they were almost invisible against the mark on her arm.

"Besides some falling glass, I wish I knew Patrick," She put her sweater back on, "I really wish I knew."

"P.K.!" Ash detached herself from her date for a breath of air, "How's it hanging?"

He chuckled, "A little to the left. If it's alright with you ladies, I'd like to take a walk. Care to join me?"

Ash grinned at her friend, vanishing back behind a tangle of blonde, "I think he means you honey."

"Alright." Nexus stood, wobbling a little as she did so. The MoonDust worked faster than she had anticipated.

Patrick caught her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders to help keep her steady, "Careful."

She tapped the steel-toe of her boots to the floor, walking to the back of the club where the groups were thinnest, "So, what did you want to say to me that you didn't want Ash to hear?"

Patrick smiled, a sideways curl of hair tickling his lip, "I wanted you away from any influence so that I could - "

Nexus suddenly backed away from Patrick, nearly tripping over her own feet, "You're not Patrick. Patrick hates his hair in his face, and you didn't wipe it away, Changeling."

The muscular boy shrugged, morphing up and in to reveal a perfect mirror of Ben, "Well, you're far enough from your Shadowhunter friend now, so it doesn't matter who I look like, does it? This boy seems like a fitting last image, doesn't he?"

There was a snort behind him, "If you want to piss her off."

Max and Ben, the real Ben, stood behind the Changeling, a seraph blade gleaming in Max's hand. He spoke to Ben, keeping his eyes on the Changeling, "You get her out of here."

She wanted to argue, but she knew that she was too 'drunk' to be effective, though luckily she was sober enough to be in control of herself, "What about Ash?"

Ben scooped Nexus up into his arms as if she were as light as a duffel bag full of knives, "She's already gone. Took off the moment that you left."

Somehow, Nexus wasn't very surprised to hear that, but she was shocked that Ben had saved her, "Thank you, for saving my life."

He was zipping through the Mundies, already in the back alley a few streets from the club, "Don't sound so surprised."

She shook her head, bumping it against his rock hard body, "After what I said, I wouldn't have blamed you for leaving me. If Max hadn't seen me, I would probably be dead right now, wouldn't I?"

He answered gruffly, dropping her on the ground unceremoniously, "Max _didn't _see you."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

You gotta love semi-answers! Grr, I hate having to rewrite chapters, and this one took at least three tries before getting to the end! Well, whatever. **  
><strong>


	5. Take Your Bets!

**A/N:**

Remember, this story is rated M! **There will be SMEX!** You have been warned...

* * *

><p>"What do you mean he didn't see me?" Nexus stood up, dusting her butt off.<p>

Ben was watching her, his green eyes almost black, "I was the one who saw you walking off with the Changeling. Max was talking to the real Patrick on the phone, consoling him about his break up. Maybe now's your chance, or are you so conceited that you'll wait until just before he finds someone else to make your move, putting him in a bind?"

She was going to let him yell and swear at her, but when he brought Patrick into it, the gloves were off and she was beyond screaming, "For one, I would never do that! Secondly, I'm the kind of girl that waits to be swept off her feet by the prince. Thirdly, I may sink low in our fights, but I'd never go as low as to mock your love life!"

He looked as if she had slapped him, "You... You just don't get it, do you?"

She was too steamed to hear him any more, so for she knew, he had just offended her fathers and their way of life, "God, you're so - "

"So what?" He challenged her to finish her sentence.

Clenching her fingers to keep fro scratching his eyes out, she kneed Ben in the groins, making him bend over so that she could reach his face without having to stand on her tippy toes. Once it was low enough, she backhanded him with all of her current strength, which was considerably more than either of them had expected. He shoved her back with both hands on her shoulders, ramming her into the wall of a deli, the smell of rotting sandwich ingredients petrifying someplace nearby. She thought that he was going to hit her as he raised his fist into the air, but he brought it down harmlessly against the brick, catching some of her hair.

"You're such an idiot." His voice was husky as he lowered his head so that there was barely any room between the two, mouth hovering inches from her lips before suddenly jamming their lips together in wild passion.

She thrust her face forward, a surge of white-hot something allowing her the power to meld into Ben. The newly freed Nexus grabbed his hair, winding her fingers through the unexpectedly silky, bronze metal-fire jumble, "And you're a jerk..."

The hand that had been pinning her hair to the wall raked itself down her body, pulling the thin, cottony dress along for the ride. He jerked his head back to get a better look at her, the milky flesh hidden beneath a light blue bra, the lace barely covering the skin at all. She pulled him back against her, rubbing her skulled tongue-ring along his mouth as she unbuckled his belt. As she pulled his pants down, his hands had found their way to her hips, traveling downwards to pull the hem of her mini-dress up. Nexus jumped into his arms, her legs twisting around his middle, Ben hoisting her up so that she was only being supported by him and the wall. Running his hand along her thigh, he brushed against an aqua stocking, its ribboned garter snapping as the nylon was snapped cruelly against her leg, the net-like material falling down to her knee. His other hand was going up the small of her back, yanking on her hair. She rolled her shoulders in pain, tearing her shrug off.

"Ben," She whispered his name, "Don't be gentle..."

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Max jumped awake when he heard the door creak open and sigh closed. Ben, who had been staying with him while his parents were away on their second honeymoon, stumbled into the room, plopping down on the bed across from Max. Normally, any guests would have just stayed in their own rooms, but Isabelle, the current head of the New York Institute, had decided to remodel the rooms, so that meant that Ben and Nexus who were really the only guests that the Institute had, would have to share a room with Max and Ash respectively. He was wide awake, staring at the ceiling, so Max didn't feel bad for what he was about to do.

"You've been gone all, night, where were you? You didn't kill Nexus, did you?" Max pulled himself upright, worried that Ben had gotten so mad at Nexus that he had snapped, killed her, and buried the evidence.

Ben looked at him for a minute, then burst out laughing, "That's a good one!"

Alarmed by the sudden change in his friend's behavior, Max pointed an accusing finger, "You did kill her!"

"Would I be happy if I had?" Ben settled down, reverting back to his moody, sulky self, though he seemed... Lighter.

"Is that a trick question?" The younger boy thought about it, "Well, you do really seem to hate her... But that's only becuase you love her. Ben and Nessy sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then a baby in a baby carriage."

Ben tossed his pillow at his friend's head, "Shut up."

Now it was Max's turn to sober up, "Sorry, but it is kinda obvious that you - "

He shot him a dirty look, somewhere between a glare and a frown, "What? That I like that annoying twit?"

"That you love her." Max sighed and reluctantly got out of bed, looking at the clock on the floor, "Want some breakfast?"

As much as Ben wanted to drop it and go get some breakfast, he could only gap at his friend, struck dumbfounded by his words, "What did you say?"

"It's obvious that you love her. Even our parents can see it," Max sighed, explaining how he knew that every one knew, "We all bet on it. Mom had faith that you two would hook up this weekend, but your mom thinks that you two won't realize it until later in life, like her and your dad. Magnus bet big bucks that you two will end up getting married someday, and Alec says that nothing is ever going to happen, but that if it ever did, you two would try to hide and deny it. Ash thinks that you're going to date for a while, but you'll break up. I agree with Magnus, and we're actually going to split the money if we're right."

"Everyone bet on us?" Ben was at a loss for what to say.

"Yep. Jace is somewhere between Alec and Ash, and Clary agrees with her mom and the rest of the pack." Max just sold every last one out.

"How did we not know?" Ben was astounded that his family, friends, and pack had all hid from them.

Max shrugged, "I have no idea."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Ok, so maybe it wasn't graphic... Descriptively graphic... But, as an author, I felt that it was my responsibility to warn my readers, just in case anyone is opposed to certain kinds of things... Fair enough, they should be aware that something could happen in an M rated fic, but... Ah, gambling is much fun, isn't it? Well, funny. And sad in this case. Frigging everyone was betting on Ben and Nexus behind their backs!


	6. Don't

Ash had had a late night last night, between flirting with a fledgeling vampire and waking up with a rather eye-catching werewolf, she had not made it back to the Institute until dawn broke over the city. If her mother caught her, she knew that she would be grounded for the rest of her life, so using all of the skills she possessed as a Nephilm, Ash slithered through the thorny rose bushes to the weighty front door, tip toeing to the elevator. She let out a sigh of relief when the elevator opened at the top floor and her mother was not waiting on the other side. Still cautious, though not nearly half as cautious as before, she stole into her room, expecting to see Nexus asleep, or at the very worst, waiting for her with a lecture. She was surprised to see that she was the first one back, or rather, the only one back.

"Ash wins this round!" She hopped victoriously in the air.

"Finally!" Nexus clapped a congratulatory clap for her friend, startling the younger girl with her sudden, silent arrival.

Spinning slowly on her heel, Ash critiqued Nexus' uncharacteristically haggard appearance. Her black, berry-themed hair was poking every which way as if she had stuck her finger in a light socket, her face was stained purple like she had eaten triple her weight in blackberries, one of her stockings was bunched over her boot, the other barely hanging on, a number of scratches and blotchy marks (most likely hickeys) scattering her skin, and her cute little shrug was missing. Ash's dark eyes narrowed suspiciously, the image of a dark, handsome stranger ravaging her friend bursting into her perverted mind.

"Dish," The Shadowhunter commanded her friend to spill the entire story, "I need details."

Nexus blushed, tucking a strand of purple hair behind her ear, "Nothing too special..."

"Uh-huh, you do realize that you're obligated to confess everything to me, right? Girl-code." Ash plopped down on the bed and patted the empty space, kicking her heels off, "I won't bite... It looks like someone already beat me there."

Nexus frowned, "If I tell you, you have to swear that you won't tell another soul. Swear on the Angel."

Ash hated swearing to the Angel, but she did it quite often, "I swear by the Angel that made my kind and that made life possible to keep your secret, Daughter of Lilith, my best friend, Nexus Bane."

Satisfied, Nexus sat on the bed beside her friend and began to tell her everything that had happened. Ash listened, a smirk plastered on her face the entire time, "...And then he carried me back here."

"Aw, Princess Nessy." Ash squeezed her hands excitedly, "That kid really knows how to show a girl a good time, doesn't he?"

Nexus looked at her in confusion, not understanding what she meant, "I hope you mean as a pal."

"Of course I don't mean that! And who uses the word pal?" Ash laughed uncomfortably, "Didn't you know that we...? Oh, Nessy!"

Nexus stood up and walked to the door, "I knew that he's been intimate with other girls... But you two? I can't..."

Ash called out to her best friend, but Nexus ignored her and left the room, stomping to the garden. How could she never have told her before? Weren't they supposed to be friends? Didn't she realize how she felt about Ben? Why did she never tell her before? Upset by this revelation, Nexus sank down against the door separating the Institute from the garden, burying her head in her knees.

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Darkness and despair surrounded Nexus from all sides, swirls of ebony affliction and sable sorrow intertwining in a complicated dance of morbid agony. Forming in the center of the void, the woman from Nexus' nightmares stood alone before the frightened child, a shining beacon of love and affection in the nothingness, beaming at her beloved daughter, spindly arms wide open. Though still afraid of the woman, her mother, Nexus was so distraught over finding out about Ben and Ash, she ran into her mother's arms, bawling her lungs out. The woman stroked her daughter's back, tenderly rubbing it in a comforting, circular motion.

"There, there, Mummy's here." She whispered, her voice frail but full of power and concern, "She'll make it all better."

Nexus nodded, tears staining her mother's shimmering jacket, "I thought that they... Why was I the last to know? She was my best friend, and he..."

"No matter what agreements the Nephilm make with the Downworlders, they will never truly accept us... Just look at what that horrid little Shadowhunter girl did to you! She is nothing but trash wrapped in a shining glamor, making my sweet angel think that they were friends, just so she could hurt you! If she were really your friend, she would have known that you liked that boy, and she never would have touched him. But that boy is no better..." Devon's voice was sharp, even to Nexus' ears, and it was rife with unadulterated wrath.

She looked into her mother's gold eyes, pleading in her face, tightening in her throat, "No..."

Devon cooed in her child's ear, "Only for you, my love... But mark me, if they were really who you thought they were, you would have known about this sooner."

Her cracked voice echoed in Nexus' head, the emotionally wounded teen's eyes fluttering open as she woke up from her vivid dream. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, dazed and amazed that she had fallen asleep leaning against the garden door. How long had she been asleep? Wait... She was asleep, and her dreams, they had progressed... Or was that only becuase of her need of comfort? Or becuase it wasn't REM sleep? And why would her mother say such things? Alec and Isabelle had fallen in love with Downworlders, and Ben's parents... _Ben_. Her stomach clenched when she thought of him, of what he had done with Ash...

"Are you awake yet?" A grey sneaker tapped her foot and pulled her from her reverie, Ben being careful to not hit her head as he stretched his arms, "I came up here to get you for breakfast, but you were out like a rock, so I waited here for you to wake up..."

"You waited here for me? Did you ever wait for anyone else?" She tested him, giving him the chance to tell her about Ash, "Anyone at all? Like an old fling?"

He was clearly at a loss, "What are you talking about?"

"I know about you and Ash... I always thought that you two were at odds becuase of me, but... I know." Nexus sprung up, looking at the morning sun pouring onto the plants, "She told me that - "

Ben had his arms around her, holding her as she cried, "Ash was a mistake..."

"No!" She threw his arms off, "Don't touch me!"

"...Nex - " He reached out for her, but she cringed away from him, bolting from the room.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Only a million tries, but I think that this chapter turned out alright... Well, it got my point across.


	7. Magnus, Alec, and Dae Jung

The lights tossed eery shadows over the cement floor, the flickering forty-five watt bulb swinging back and forth over the the warehouse to rhythmically meet with the other two lights. Alec had his witchlight out in his left hand, fingers dimming it so that his location wasn't exactly obvious, a thin hunting knife ready in his right. The demon he had been tracking actually wasn't anything important or overly dangerous, Nexus or any one of her friends could have dealt with it, so this hunt was a waste of the precious time he could have been using to talk to his daughter... Well, the sooner this "urgent matter" was over, the sooner he could return home to his family and focus on his duties as a parent.

"Shhhadowhunter! I sssmell you!" The demon was reptilian with a mouth that ran almost entirely around its pin-shaped head, a giant black tongue slithering between jagged rows of razor sharp fangs. Crystallized quill-like feathers ran up and down its lengthy underside, allowing it to move on almost any terrain with ease, a tapered tail flicking back and forth as it searched for the Shadowhunter.

Alec rolled his startling blue eyes, prominent even in the dingy filth and horrid lighting of the warehouse, at the demon's stupidity, jumping down from a stack of unmarked boxes, blade plunging into the top of its head, just below a single, bulging eye with a dilated pupil the color of human blood. It wailed as the blade ripped through its skin, black ichor spewing venomously from the wound, curses and a string of profanity stinging the air like tiny bumblebees.

"Just die already!" Alec pulled the blade free of the demon's black scales, sending a fresh wave of ichor to the surface, stabbing it dead-center in the eye. It moaned in anguish as it died, folding in half and vanishing back to its home dimension.

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Magnus looked at the sky, silver drops of rain falling on his upturned face. He quite liked the rain, and after a days work, it was nice to relax and enjoy it. But now wasn't the time for relaxation - he had Nexus to worry about. Even if Devon was still around and Magnus was only a tiny part in her child's life, he knew that that girl would still be a daughter to him. Reaching into his pocket, he took a plain silver cellphone, the newest, most expensive model, out from his back pants pocket, dialing the first name on speed dial.

"I think I have a lead on our button's problem... But she'll have to stay at your sister's place for a little bit longer." He didn't even wait to hear Alec greet him before speaking, excited by this news.

"Well hello to you too!" Alec snapped halfheartedly, wiping the hunting blade clean on the side of his heavy black pants, "Wait, how did you get a lead? I thought that you were summoned for a patch job."

"Hello, love." Magnus teased Alec, purring as if he had all the time in the world to seduce his Shadowhunter, "I _was_ summoned for a patch job... And it was exactly like what happened to Devon."

Alec's face paled considerably, even as he stepped back outside into natural city light, "And?"

Magnus' eyebrows knitted, a deep sigh heaving itself up from deep within, "The poor thing had been suffering through the pain and fits for nearly two decades, but the symptoms she displayed were much more subdued than Devon... I did what I could to ease her pain, but she killed herself with a letter opener when I was speaking to her son. Jace might have enjoyed the mess it made, but it was almost too much for my constitution, and I used to associate with vampires. The boy said that she had been suffering ever since he had been born, and that she had tried repeatedly to kill herself these last few years. He seemed unfazed by her death, almost as if he had been waiting for her to succeed. Poor woman, living in that kind of agony for sixteen years, nothing but that miserable mope to keep her company."

"Anything else?" The Shadowhunter swore as yet another cab passed him by, "The one time I actually try to get a cab, the damn things are full!"

Magnus ignored Alec's outburst, though he was vaguely amused by it, "When I asked about the boy's father, he told me that his father had been imprisoned shortly before he was even born, but that they had had limited contact through the years. It was quite an effort on my part, but I was eventually able to get a name... Dae-Jung."

Alec froze, remembering his mother and sister mentioning the name, discarding it as useless gossip, "Dae-Jung was a part of the Unseelie Court, before he was taken prisoner by the Seelie Court for crimes against their kind, or so the rumors went. Isabelle thought that the fey were covering up even fouler crimes, but she had no proof so the matter was dropped."

"Unless I am mistaken, Devon married in a very prestigious Downworlder named Dae-Jung," Magnus knew next-to-nothing of Devon's husband, other then the fact they married shortly after meeting. "but if he was a part of the Unseelie Court, I'm unaware."

"You should call Nexus and tell her that business is going to take longer than we anticipated..." Alec hated the idea of leaving Nexus alone with those nightmares, but this sounded much too promising to miss.

"Alright, I'll call her so you can come over here. I'm at the library." Magnus was not the type to being around the library, even though he was an exceptionally learned man.

Alec didn't hide his shock, "The _library_?"

The warlock, for once, wasn't very amused, "You know, the place full of books?"

"You can cool it with the sarcasm, I'm not Jace, you know," Alec wasn't in a very good mood today, so he couldn't help but be a bit crabby with Magnus.

"Of course I know who I'm talking to! You're my little - " Magnus whispered something into the receiver that made the person on the other end of the phone turn an attractive shade of pink, or so the warlock imagined, "So relax, or I'll have to punish you the next time we're alone."

"Magnus, no matter how welcome the idea is, now is not the time." The Shadowhunter patiently told his love.

"I know now's not the time for innuendos or promises, we have to think of our daughter." He was being half-serious, half-flirtatious when he said that.

"Oh, so you _do_ remember her!" He finally succeed in hailing a cab, paying the driver to take him to the public library.

Speaking in a soothing voice, he whispered into the phone, "Yes, I remember her."

Even though he couldn't see it, the younger man rolled his eyes, "I love you."

Beaming, older man looked up at the sky again, "I love you too."

He hung the phone up, slipping it back into his pocket. Sometimes he wondered if Nexus wasn't really their daughter by birth, becuase it was clear that the both of them would move heaven and hell for that child, just to make her happy. When he met Alec, he honestly thought that his life was complete, which of course it was, but when Clary and Jace had left Nexus in Magnus' hands, he had realized that his life had been missing something, and now that he had Nexus, it was full. A sappy sentiment that Mundanes would eat up, but the warlock didn't care, becuase his family really did fulfill whatever emptiness he had known.

"Clumsy me," Magnus pulled his phone back out from his pocket, dialing the second number on speed dial, "Lollipop, it's daddy!"

"Daddy?" Nexus' voice was shaking, as if she had been crying, but it brightened almost instantly when she heard his voice.

Thinking immediately of Ben, Magnus sympathetically reached out to her, "What did Ben do?"

Surprised, she failed her head, strands of hair hitting her face, "He didn't... It doesn't matter, I can deal with that later! When are you coming back?"

"Oh, Lollipop! Your father and I have to look into something, so you'll have to say there with your aunt for a little while longer." He was never sorrier to tell her that, "But - "

"No! You have to look into these nightmares, please! I can handle this on my own, alright? You have to believe in me." She cut him off, almost hanging up on accident.

Never prouder of his daughter, he blew a kiss into the phone, "Alright, you have our full faith. We love you baby girl!"

"I love you too, daddy. Both of you!" She sounded happy as she hung up, but he knew better.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Whew, a bit of our very own Magnus Bane! Oh, and a plot! And completely off topic, I got Clockwork Angel (still reading it), and it is awesome! I honestly wasn't expecting much, but when I heard that Magnus was in it, I had to get it, and I am so glad that I did! Sorry for the shameless ad, but I regret nothing! Oh, and Dae-Jung is a Koren name, so if he is in fact Nexus' father, then that would make her part Korean. And the Unseelie Court is real, and evil! But a fairy eviler than New York's Seelie Queen is scary!


	8. Dressing the Wounds

After Nexus had ran away from Ben in the garden, she had barricaded herself inside her aunt's room. Luckily for her, Isabelle was a considerate aunt, not prying into the matter and leaving her to her own devices. As the Shadowhunter read one of the many reports stashed in the vanity, Magnus called, telling Nexus that she would have to stay at the Institute for a bit longer. Knowing that they had found something, she lied and told him that she would be fine. She wouldn't be, but she could at least act like she was alright.

"That reminds me, Simon called earlier, so we're all going out to dinner tonight..." Isabelle looked cautiously at her niece to see how she would take the news.

Nexus looked at her sideways from the bed, "I could eat."

Izzy sighed in relief, "If only the others were half as mature as you..."

Nexus nodded, "Why don't I get ready will you rally the troops?"

"Yeah." Isabelle left the room with a last worried glance back at her beloved niece.

Nexus headed straight into Isabelle's bathroom, looking at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a complete wreck, not even remotely close to a possible description, her skin was gleaming with sweat, splotches of tear-stained make-up running down her face. Dark bags hung under her eyes, reminding her painfully of the nightmares that have kept her awake. Pulling down what was left of an elaborate up-do, empty spheres of navy peered through a curtain of black, blue, and violet. Touching a colored lock, Nexus watched as the color drained from the black, leaving her hair a matted monotone, the blue and purple vanishing into her roots. Not caring about her appearance at the moment, she knew that if she didn't add another color to her head, people would wonder about her, so she made a single hot pink stripe going down the side of her face. Not her finest work, but it would suffice.

"Give me strength to get through this." She looked up at the ceiling, twisting the tap on so that the shower rained needles of water.

Feeling the water with her left hand, she discarded her clothing and stepped into the shower, allowing the water to wash away her troubles. Not that it really could wash her problems away, but at least the steady beat of the water-pins on her body and the heat of the water soothed her, seeping past her skin. It was a welcome feeling that she longed to last longer; but this had to be a quick shower. After scrubbing herself clean with Isabelle's lavender soap, standard of all Institutes since the invention of soap, Nexus got out of the shower, wrapping a fluffy white towel around herself.

"Nexus," She heard a voice that she instantly could identify calling her name beyond the door.

Not needing to look to know who was in Isabelle's room, Nexus swung the door open and leaned against the door frame, glaring at her unwelcomed guest, "What do you want from me now?"

"I should have told you... But it happened so fast, and it was the one time... I didn't know, I thought - "

"What did you think, huh?" She was a little disappointed that Ash had been the one waiting for her, but after her outburst, she was madder that she had waited this long, "That I have feelings? That the hate I showcased was actually fake? No, you probably thought of no one but yourself!"

Ash wished that Nexus would have taken her anger out physically, becuase her words hurt way worse than any beating the Shadowhunter had ever taken, "You're my best friend, so I should have realized it right away... But I was so ashamed when it happened, and I honestly thought that you hated him for what he did to you... I figured that you must have, or else you never would have became my best friend."

Nexus felt as if her insides were being yanked out, "You thought that that was why we became best friends? Because of how Ben treated me after the accident? Ash, you never were a replacement for Ben! How could you think that?"

Ash wiped her eyes across the back of her hand, "Then you...?"

"You're my best friend until the end, remember?" She smiled reassuringly at her friend, the smile fading faster than it came, "But I can't forgive you for this... For keeping me in the dark. You hid this from me, and then you have the gull to come in here and ask me to forgive you, just like that?"

Ash shook her head, "I never expected you to forgive me."

"Then why are you here?" Nexus was near tears, but she refused to let the other girl know that.

"So I could tell you that it was a mistake, a mistake we both blotted from memory..." She was not proud of herself, but she knew that they both would take it back, or at least tell Nexus the minute it had happened.

"So you say..." Nexus was doubtful of her friend after the conversation with her mother, "How long ago did it happen?"

Ash fidgeted uncomfortably, "Eight months ago."

So, it had been that long? She wasn't sure if that hurt more, since she had just now learned of it, or if it hurt less, since it was such a long time ago, "I have to get ready for dinner."

Ash looked at her in dismay, but she left the room without another word. Nexus shoved the encounter from her mind as she pulled on a pair of tight, low-rise jeans, playing with the ruby stud in her belly. The piercing had actually been her father's (Magnus) sweet sixteen present, along with a new jewel each holiday since. Alec had been livid when he found out, but when Magnus told him that it had been his idea, he had settled down somewhat. Not a whole lot, and whenever he saw her midriff, even on accident, he would make her change into a much longer shirt, usually a short dress. She shook her head, wondering why she should be thinking of that at a time like this.

"I approve," Ben said from the door, looking at the curve of her back, the soft skin underneath subtle white lines that anyone else would have called a blemish, "But I somehow doubt that you'll wear that to the restaurant..."

She turned, hair spilling from her shoulder to cover her bare chest in just the right places, "Get out."

He smirked, "Aw, that's not very convincing..."

"Ben, I swear that I will go against everything I ever learned and curse you!" Her voice was lower than a hiss, but with his supernaturally enhanced senses, she knew that he had heard her.

He grew serious, regretting his choice to try to approach her that way, "I wouldn't blame you if you did... Nexus... I..."

"Bennett," She took a deep breath, coldly using his full first name, "If you don't leave this instant, you will be sorry."

He was about to argue, but he too left without saying another word. Locking the door behind him to prevent any more walk-ins, she finished getting dressed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Simple, short, bitter-sweet, and to the point! Ok, maybe not bittersweet, but it was short and to the point. They love Nexus, in their own ways, and they regret hurting her, so they try to apologize, not that that kind of thing can be forgiven (easily if at all).


	9. Shame Monster

Alec met Magnus on the front stairs of the library, the later greeting the former with a deep kiss that left them both breathless. Even glamored, they received several dirty looks for their very public display. Magnus grinned, looking at Alec mischievously, the Shadowhunter knowing that something bad wasn't too far off. Expecting to be dragged away to parts unknown, Alec was surprised when the door to the library opened before them, a slender girl with moss-green skin and flaming red hair darting over, offering to help the warlock.

"What can I help you with today, Mr. Bane?" Alec begrudgingly had to admit that she was pretty, but if you looked the right way, all fairies were pretty, and she was clearly flirting with Magnus, so that didn't improve Alec's opinion of her.

He completely ignored her, eyes lingering on Alec, and only on him, "A recorded history of Fey trials."

She looked startled by his request and flustered that he had looked away from his companion only to appear courteous, "Right away."

Alec looked at Magnus in amusement, "Mr. Bane?"

The warlock shrugged, "I don't see anything wrong a little formality every now and again."

Say what he will, Alec knew that Magnus did it for him,"You big softie."

"Maybe in public, but never in the bedroom." He pointed out, smiling in a very unangelic way.

Alec rolled his eyes, "I wonder if Izzy's having as much fun as we are?"

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Isabelle, in fact, was not having fun at all. Simon was sitting next to her, discretely squeezing her hand under the table, but the children left in her care were all sitting in moody silence, which was only slightly lifted when Patrick and his parents showed up and joined them. Max, the only teen not directly affected by the love triangle, immediately struck up a conversation with him, but that only caused Nexus to "go to the bathroom". Ben mysteriously chose that time to go as well, leaving Ash sulking in the corner by herself. Maia and Jordan clearly sympathized with Isabelle, telling her how they were at the age when they had to start to work their own problems out. Simon put in that he wouldn't know, getting tossed a few dirty looks.

Nexus had really stormed out of the restaurant and was pacing unglamored in the parking lot, "Why did he have to show up?"

"My parents wanted me to get outside the house," Patrick answered her rhetorical question, not unkindly.

She jumped, looking at him in shock, "But I thought that you were talking with Max. How did you end up out here?"

He smiled slyly, standing next to her, "I have my ways. Actually, when Ben came back from the bathroom, I slipped away from the table."

"Oh," She sighed, reluctantly wishing that Ben had followed her.

He chuckled, "Sorry I wasn't the right guy."

"No, that's not it!" Nexus sat on the edge of one of the lampposts that lit the parking lot, looking at him in horror, "I'm glad that you're here, its just that... Never mind."

"You like Ben, it's alright... We all know." He was smart enough to leave out the betting part. "What is it?"

She had started to shake ferociously when he said that she liked Ben, "I don't like Ben. I was only upset because we got into it after he said something about you."

Either psychic waves had told him, or she was just that predictable, but Patrick wasn't wrong, "You two had sex, but I don't see how I fit into the picture."

Too upset to filter herself, she just let it out, "I saw a Changling at the club, and it looked like you, so Ben must have realized that I liked you, and he was upset with me for an earlier fight, so he said that you had just broken up with your girl, so now was my chance, unless I wanted to wait until you had your eyes on someone else so then I could act and hurt you. He's such a prick!"

"You like me?" Patrick brushed his hair from his face, so this time she knew it was the genuine article.

"It doesn't matter." Nexus was suddenly very aware of Patrick - and that her shirt was completely visible from the ribcage down. Nervously, guiltily, no, she had no reason to be guilty, she admired the way his tee-shirt fluttered ever so slightly in the breeze, his thick muscles roping together underneath the thin, white fabric.

"Nexus..." He put his hand on her arm, "We shouldn't..."

She looked at him, the indent on his lower lips getting larger and larger as he drew closer, "Shouldn't what?"

"This." He gently kissed her, savoring the feeling of her lips on his, "I just got out - "

His words were cut off as the kiss deepened, the force bringing him to stand in front of her, hand grasping at the frail hem of her shirt. They were pulled apart by an irate male voice, "And what do we have here?"

They sprang apart, red and panting, "Hey man, this isn't - "

"I suddenly find myself right, and yet I can take no satisfaction from it... I have to admit, you really had me fooled, but I wasn't wrong when I called you a monster, was I?" Ben spoke as if Patrick wasn't right there, "I thought that you were different than this... Better. But you're not, you're not even worth the pain..."

"Ben!" Ash chased after him, shooting Nexus a look that could cut glass, "Hypocrite."

Looking at Patrick with tears in her eyes, Nexus ran off in a completely different direction, "I'm sorry!"

Running as fast and as far as she could, which thanks to her training with Jace was awfully far, Nexus finally collapsed on all fours in Central Park, just near the secret entrance to the Seelie Court. What had she just done? She really was a hypocrite, no, she was much worse than that... Ben was right to call her a monster, becuase that's exactly what she felt like. How could she have done that to Ben? Why, why did everything have to be so complicated? It wasn't like they were dating, but they weren't not dating either.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

So, here's another twist in the melodrama that is Nexus' life! Mawhaha! Ok, so that was an exaggeration, but still, it was kinda funny... In a very lame way. Going to the Seelie Court, good decision or not? You be the judge! (Sorry, total Chris Pontius moment ((From Jackass)) Been watching too much of that for my own good). Oh, well.


	10. A Storm is Comming

The records of Fey trails were surprisingly slim, a bulk of them having to do with a incidents occurring centuries ago. But the one or two that actually fit in their timeline were practically empty, just the names of the officials who presided at the trial and the criminally accused. But they did find Dae-Jung's name in the bottommost file, his picture stamped in red with the word "pending" in the bottom corner. He was decent looking, for what he was, thick rope-like locks of crimson-tipped ice-colored hair falling in his face, deep-set eyes of solid blue gazing thoughtfully ahead, though both Alec and Magnus knew that his eyes would be darting around like flies. His teeth were triangular like tiny shark teeth, his silver-lipped mouth permanently stretched into a repugnant grin that spans both sides of his face. His skin was powder white and had the consistency of moldy cheese, rotten away to show the reddish muscle underneath.

"It says here that Dae-Jung was the son of the head of the Seoul Unseelie Court," Magnus read the page aloud for Alec, "until he was banished from Seoul."

"But he's a Dullahan, and they're Irish." Alec knew that without having to even think about it.

Magnus read on, "His father was on a rocky standing for taking a foreign bride, so he had his son banished on falsified charges. His first crime came in the form of revenge - He killed the entire Court."

"His first crime?" The Shadowhunter had the feeling where the trail ended, but he remained hopeful that this man had nothing to do with his daughter.

The warlock skimmed on from there, "Attempted assassinations, various suspicions of conspiracy, and demon associations..."

"Any involvement with the Nephilm?" Alec hadn't heard of these incidents, but they could have been a contained incident.

"None... Isabelle appears to have been right. But what I fail to understand is that if these records are public, why weren't the Nephilm involved?" He was more concerned than he let on, but Alec didn't have to wonder why.

Blue eyes ablaze, he rubbed the other man's shoulders comfortingly, "He is what we feared, isn't he?"

Cat-eyes cast down, he nodded, "The last charge was murdering his pregnant wife."

"Pregnant wife? But this can't be - " He stopped talking when he saw his wife's name.

Devon Grey.

"He must have faked their deaths, but why?" Magnus thought of Devon, wondering just how much she actually knew about her husband.

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

After running to Central Park and collapsing near the entrance to the Seelie Court, Nexus looked up at the sky, storm clouds gathering for one last shower. The sky had been temperamental that day, raining on and off, but she could tell that the rain was going to leave soon, that there would be a storm before it left. She wasn't sure how she knew that; she just felt it in her bones. But this wasn't the time to think about the weather! She had to think about what more important things, like what she was going to do now. She knew that she should go back to the Institute, if only to apologize to her aunt for running off like she did, but she couldn't move her body if she had actually wanted to. Falling face-first into the ground, she curled in the fetal position and cried.

The Queen of the Seelie Court watched the girl run into her domain, balling up like a squirrel just outside her palace. The girl was familiar in the dim light, so she went to gaze upon her for a closer look. Standing just feet from the girl, she realized who it was, or rather, whose daughter she was. Oh, this was just too much! The beloved child of Magnus Bane and Alexander Lightwood, here of all places, and at all times! Smiling cruelly, the Fairy saw a chance to some good.

Hearing a tinkling laughter, she looked up as a slim hand reached into her face, the Queen of the Seelie Court smiling down at her, "It is time."

Confused by what she meant, Nexus remained where she was, moving only her lips to speak, "If I might inquire of her most glorious Majesty, time for what?"

The Queen smiled, "Such a polite child, even in the wake of such tragedy. Nexus Bane, you have been having nightmares of a most frightening nature, have you not?"

"Your point, kind lady?" Nexus was wary of the fair folk, "Nothing comes for free."

"Nor should it..." She curled her lip, "I wish to show you something."

Nexus had the feeling that she should run the other way, but her limbs were heavy, and she had no place to go, so she carefully said instead, "You say that you wish to show me something when not moments before, you say that nothing is for free. And you know of my... Plight. What is it that you want?"

The Queen, most unexpectedly, gently brushed her cheek, "Child, came with me, and you will understand everything... Even those dreams that haunt you."

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Ben stalked away from Nexus and Patrick, seeing (in red) nothing but Nexus, that she was wrapped in someone else's arms. Was she using Ben the entire time? Or was she using Patrick to get back at him for what had happened with Ash? The more likely scenario with anyone else would have been the second, but Nexus... He honestly had thought that she was above something like that. The Nexus he knew would never have used anyone, not her friends. Her friends... What was he to her? When they were children, they were nigh inseparable, until the accident that had left her scarred. Even at that young of an age, he never wanted to hurt her again, so he became, for lack of a better word, an asshole. He did everything in his power to keep her away from him, but in the end, it had all been for nothing, because they were still drawn to each other, like a moth to flame, a vampire to the sun.

"Ben!" Ash had come jogging up behind him, forcing him from his thoughts.

"Ash?" He had hoped that Nexus had come after him to explain herself, but it was only Ashley.

She stood her distance, almost afraid to be too close to him, not that he felt any different, "You shouldn't let her - "

He had said it so often now, it felt as if the words had become his catch phrase, "What? Let her get to me?" He snorted, "That's asking a fish not to swim, a bird not to fly, a butterfly to live after being touched. Every little thing she does... It gets to me."

"Then why did we ever make-out?" Ash shook her head as if that could erase the memory.

He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time, "Was that all we did?"

"Don't you remember?" She sighed, "I guess I'm not so surprised... You were completely hammered... Well, I remember it at least. You were shit-faced, and I was depressed becuase my boyfriend had just broken up with me, and it just kinda happened... We made out for about half an hour, or less, and you fell asleep. That was all."

He could smack Ash sometimes, "So we only made out! But why did I think that something happened?"

She shrugged, realization dawning on her face, "Because Nexus thought that was what I meant! She thought that we... God, I'm such an idiot!"

"Yes, yes you are." He wasn't being malicious, he was merely pointing out a fact.

"Ash! Ben!" Simon called out to the teens from just outside the restaurant, locating them near the edge of the parking lot almost instantly with his keen night vision, "Your dinners are getting cold!"

Ben looked at Ash seriously, "You know, your dad really doesn't seem like a father... Must be the fangs."

Simon grinned sheepishly, "I'm not the only one with fangs around here."

Vampire or not, Ben liked Simon. He wasn't about sides, and whenever lines were drawn, he would side with Isabelle and the Shadowhunters, unless it something petty, then that was up in the air. Being Clary's best friend and his aunt's on-again off-again boyfriend, one would think that he wouldn't spend any time around the sixteen year old blood sucker, but actually, he really looked up to him.

"Have any of you seen Nexus? Patrick said that she ran off crying, so I thought that one of you might know." Isabelle stood next to Simon, her black hair and champagne-colored dress standing out against him, nearly making his casual attired self invisible, looking a little frantic, her eyes filled with dread.

Ben and Ash exchanged glances, "No."

Izzy looked as if she had swallowed a brick, "Alec and Magnus are going to kill me..."

Ben patted her hand, tearing off to find Nexus, "I'll find her."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

I wasn't liking the whole Ben-and-Ash thing, so this is me fixing that... Speaking of Ben, to clarify, the whole love-hate thing he and Nexus had at first was becuase of his guilt at hurting her. And Yes, Simon is Ash and Max's father. For one, Simon's a daywalker, and two, it is unclear about whether or not vampires can reproduce... (I'm not sure how). But their deal is that Izzy's the head of the Institute (which Simon can't enter), and Izzy is Izzy after all, so things are difficult for them. Oh, and I got my info on Dullahans from Wikipedia...


	11. Found

Nexus wasn't answering her phone... It rang and rang, and eventually, it went right to voice mail. Ben didn't like that at all. Magnus got her the phone for this very reason, and yet, she wouldn't answer. He considered that she was just ignoring him, but when he checked in with Izzy and the others, they couldn't reach her either. Thinking of Nexus, of her favorite place, of where she would go when she was upset, only one place came to mind - Central Park.

"I'm on my way..." He was too worried about her to even think of taking a cab, so ran all the way there, shaggy, mud-colored fur flying in the breeze.

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Magnus closed the book with a snap, looking at the grey sky, oozing blood and ink. The sun would be setting soon, but he and Alec had found what they needed, so now all that remained was to visit the Seelie Court. Fun. The Fairies weren't particularly fond of the warlock, but they tolerated him more than they did the Shadowhunters, which wasn't very surprising after what had happened with Sebastian. Yet, no matter how much devastation he had wrought, Magnus couldn't look at that time with regret, becuase it was in that time that he had found the spell for summoning and bidding Angels in the White Book. He knew that it was a stupid, selfish thing to do, messing with Angels, but he was more than willing to pay any price to spend the rest of eternity with Alec.

"Hey," Alec laced his fingers with Magnus', "we'll protect her."

He smiled at his little Shadowhunter, "Of course we will. As long as we have each other, the three of us will be just fine."

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

She was hesitant to reply, unsure of whether or not she wanted to follow the Seelie Queen, but Nexus suspected that if she said no, she would regret not knowing what the Seelie Queen wanted to show her. But if she she did follow her, what price would she have to pay? Or would it even be a consequence of hers? The Seelie Queen was not very found of the Shadowhunters, yet she suffered Magnus, so this clearly could have been a form of payback... But if she could fix this problem on her own...

"Nexus!" Ben, mostly still in his wolf form, saw her standing near the Seelie Queen and cried out for her.

She twisted her neck painfully, looking at him in consternation, "Ben...? What are you doing here?"

Stepping back from the girl, the Seelie Queen vanished in the blink of an eye, but not before a last word to the daughter of Lilith, "Such a pity we were interrupted... As for my offer, it shall stand until the end of the week."

Ben ran up to Nexus, now completely in human form, crushing her in his arms, "You're so stupid! Do you know how worried everyone was? How worried I was?"

"You were worried about me?" She was so astonished to hear that, her meeting with the Seelie Queen was forgotten for the time being.

"How could I not be?" He relaxed his grip on her, but didn't let her go, "You mean the world to me... To all of us."

She could care less about the others at this moment, becuase being held by Ben made her heart flutter with an excitement that she never wanted to end. Wait, what was she thinking at a time like this? Was he not the reason that she had run away in the first place? Well, not him, but her cloudy feelings? No, that wasn't quite the right reason either... She had run becuase she had hurt him. Patrick had reached out to her, finally, but that wasn't what she wanted... So why did she let it go so far? Maybe curiosity? Spite? She refused to believe that it was something in her nature, becuase that was a cop-out that cowards used. No, something inside had made her do, or rather, had _allowed_ her to do that. But what?_ Spite._ That made the most sense, given the revelation that Ben had had sex with Ash. Naturally, she was wounded, so she took comfort in the arms of another. But it just as easily could have been inquisitiveness. She had liked Patrick for a very long time now, so even if the timing was less than perfect, and she wasn't exactly in a relationship, why not see where it could lead?

"Ben - "

He put his finger to her mouth, silencing her, "No, I have to tell you something first. I never had sex with Ash."

Whatever was holding her world together failed, becuase Nexus was left standing in a heap of broken glass, "What? But she said that - "

"Has Ash ever been the brightest person when it comes to wording things?" He still could kill her, but the news that they had never done more than kiss spared her for the time being.

"Then what did happen?" Nexus knew that something happened, becuase Ash wasn't _that_ bad with her words, though admittedly, this wasn't the first time she had made Nexus think something had happened that really hadn't.

He looked carefully at her, "We kissed. Well, made out, but I swear, that's all that happened."

She believed him, but it felt foolish to let it drop there, "Why did you think that...?"

He smirked at her unwillingness to say the words, "I was very drunk. From what Ash tells me, I passed out not too long into it."

That was a relief, and a good place to just let this matter die, but this wasn't over yet, "Ben... About what happened at the restaurant just now..." His face tightened, but she carried on, owing him an explanation, even if he didn't want one, "I kissed him... But it wasn't like kissing you." She wasn't sure why she said it that way, but thinking about it, it was true, "I wish I knew why I did that, becuase I really, really," She didn't want to say the wrong word and scare him off, so she carefully navigated around the word, "adore you."

Ben pulled Nexus closer again, embracing her, "Stupid."

She frowned, "Why am I stupid this time?"

"Because you won't say what you really feel," He said matter-of-factly, "that's why. Unless there's another reason I should be calling you stupid?"

She didn't say anything to that, becuase there was nothing to say, other than, "You won't say it either."

Ben chuckled, his low voice rumbling in her ear, "It. Is for a another time. Today, the important thing is that I found you."

Nexus blushed, having the feeling he meant more than actually finding her, "You're unbelievable..."

At just that minute, Ben's phone rang. He quickly released Nexus, digging into his back pocket, "Go."

"Did you find her?" Isabelle sounded near hysterics.

He looked at Nexus, "I believe this is for you."

She took the phone guiltily, knowing exactly who it was, "Hello?"

Peace washed over Izzy, her body relaxing before it snapped, faster than the flick of her electrum whip, into her motherliness, "Do you have any idea how much that little act of yours scared me? If I had lost you - "

"I know, I know, my father's would have killed you," She wasn't being insensitive to Isabelle's plight, only aware of it.

"That's not what I mean!" She snapped, "You're like a daughter to me! I was so scared that something had happened to you! Don't you ever, EVER run away like that again! Do you understand me?"

Isabelle would have yelled at her niece longer and with greater detail, but her phone was dying, so she knew she had to keep it short. Nexus suspected as much, so she wrapped up her side of the conversation, "I love you. And thank you. I'll take my punishment when we get to the Institute."

The phone died before Izzy could reply, so she tossed it back to Ben, "Do you think she'd make you room with me if she thinks we still hate each other?"

Nexus shook her head, "Not a chance. Although, having to smell wet dog for a few days might be a sufficient punishment."

He rolled his eyes, walking back to the Institute with Nexus, "Back to that lame comeback? Honestly, I was hoping for better by now."

"Oh, come on, you know that the wet dog thing is good!" She argued, watching the sky bleed itself to night.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Ah, back to bickering! But I suppose that means things are back to normal for the two...


	12. You Think You Love Me

Standing at the lake's edge, Alec looked at Magnus, the black sky above blending seamlessly with his sable hair and military-style coat. His handsome face was grim, wrought with emotions Alec understood very well, and his hand was so tight on his, the circulation almost gone. They were standing a line, a line that once crossed, they could never go back. After they went further, not going wasn't an option, they would come face-to-face with Dae-Jung, Devon's husband and Nexus' biological father... But when that happened, what would happen next is anyone's guess...

"Ready?" Alec smiled at Magnus, squeezing his hand to comfort the warlock.

Grinning at his little Shadowhunter, Magnus took the the first step, striding into the water, "Always."

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Nexus looked at Ash for several minutes and she stared back, neither moving an inch. Ben was behind Nexus, Max backing his sister, their faces grim as the girls eyed each other. The tension was thick enough to cut, Seraph blade not required to do so. Isabelle was between the two girls, looking back and forth between the two teenagers.

Having enough of their ridiculous games, and still frazzled at her niece's vanishing act, Isabelle snapped at them, "Oh, for the love of! Just do it already!"

They looked at the adult Shadowhunter in split-screen, each grabbing an end of the sandwich left over from dinner, "It's mine!"

Max and Ben held the girls' shoulders, causing them to stop the struggle for the lukewarm turkey long enough for Izzy to cut it down the middle so they could share it. The girls gulped, each grazed by the knife as it slid down the meat and bread, hitting the plate underneath. They took their share, taking a large bite and watching each other with distrust. Izzy groaned, throwing her hands in the air and leaving the kitchen.

"I do believe she's angry." Ash watched her mother's retreating back with a frown.

"Quite," Nexus agreed, "Though I haven't the vaguest idea why."

Ben snorted, "The possibilities are endless."

Nexus shot him a dirty look, sticking her tongue out, "Fuck off."

"I didn't know you were so kinky," He pushed her against the kitchen counter, both arms blocking her off, "But if you want to give the twins a show, who am I to stop you?"

Max spun around, pretending to vomit while Ash feigned a heart-attack, "Oh, Ben! Promise me that we can give them a show?"

"Why not?" He shrugged, leaning in for a kiss.

Nexus smirked, jerking her knee up and winding him, "Sucker."

The twins ceased their acts, applauding Nexus, "Brava, brava!"

Ben pointed at Max, falling dramatically to the floor, "Traitor!"

Max grabbed Nexus, planting a kiss on her check, "The act ends now: Now we can let the world know of our love!"

"Your love?" Ash clung to Nexus' other side, wrapping her arms around her waist, "What about our love?"

"Did your lesbian love affair kill my brother?" Clary asked, walking into the kitchen with her hands on her hips, "Honestly, we were only gone for a few hours!"

"Oh, so she's back..." Ben sat up, looking around at his sister.

Ash and Max let go of Nexus, Ash hugging her aunt, "So, did Jace behave himself?"

"I'll have you know, I was on my best behavior." Jace followed into the room after his wife, a person half his size holding the back of his shirt.

Nexus knew that Stacy was shy, even around family, so she was always trying to be extra friendly to him, "Hey Stacy. Did you have fun today?"

Jace snorted, "We where shopping, something you wouldn't have the luxury of understanding."

Clary had to partially agree with Jace, becuase Nexus was a warlock, she only had to snap her fingers to get anything she wanted, "Let Sterling answer her."

The boy had blonde hair just like his father, but if you looked closely, there were more than hints of strawberry, and his eyes were hazel, capturing the best of both Jace's gold eyes and Clary's green orbs, "Uh-huh."

Nexus smiled at Stacy, "Why don't you come tell me about it?"

"Sterling Anthony Morgenstern, you had better not steal my girlfriend!" Ben ordered his nephew, shocking everyone in the room when he called Nexus his girlfriend.

Nexus was more surprised than anyone else however, so she blushed, grabbing Stacy and caring him out of the kitchen. Clary and Jace turned to the twins, telling them about something Shadowhunter related. They were very watchful of their son, but they knew that Nexus wouldn't do anything to him, and that the social interaction was a good thing. Ben lingered in the kitchen for a moment or two before following after Nexus. She was already half-way to the library, so he decided to just leave her alone for the moment.

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Siting in one of the chairs closest to the door, Nexus bounced Stacy on her knee. Her mind was reeling with what had just happened in the kitchen, but she forced herself to focus on the child. Listening to him read a Mundie book for children, she helped him pronounce words correctly. When the story was finished, Stacy settled in her arms, falling asleep. She barely noticed as she pet his fair head. She even missed the door open and Ben approach her.

"You look comfortable with him." He looked at Nexus holding the sleeping toddler, wondering if she was sad about being sterile.

She nodded, kissing the top of his head lightly, "He's a good child."

"Nexus, I'm sorry about earlier - "

"It's fine. I mean, it makes sense, doesn't it? It was just different hearing the words out loud. Good different." She smiled at him.

He shook his head, "I should have spoken to you about it first though, not just blurt out some assumption of mine..."

"No, you just said it first was all. If we had to be labeled, we probably would have been dating a lot sooner than just tonight, or even before we had sex." She wasn't wrong about that.

He walked over to her, kneeling at her side, "So, will you be my girl?"

Nexus used the hand that had previously been on Stacy's head to take Ben's hand, "Idiot, if I can't learn to accept your wet dog stench, who else will?"

"That could be a little more convincing," He frowned.

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, alright? I'll be your girlfriend."

Ben shook his head, still not sold on her sincerity, "Jesus, woman. You'll sure make an excellent actress someday."

Seeing that the only way to convince him was to lower her defenses, Nexus held his hand to her lips, "I want to be your girlfriend... becuase... I think I might love you."

"You think you love me?" He looked at her as if she were sick, "Are you sure your feeling alright?"

She frowned, "If you're going to be a butt about it, then we can just - "

"Alright." He looked at her begrudgingly, "I might love you too."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Actually, the "fuck off" part was inspired by Laffy-Taffy0401's awesome fic "Because of a Pink Crayon". If you haven't checked it out, you should!


	13. Not A Warlock

Magnus looked up at Alec suddenly as he trust his arm out to stop him, almost causing the Shadowhunter to slip and fall down the winding underground staircase, "I sense a disturbance in the force."

Not understanding the Star Wars reference, nor aware of what Star Wars even was, Alec looked at Magnus questioningly, "What?"

"Nexus has done something stupid." The warlock wasn't sure what she had done, but he knew that the teen had done something that someone was going to regret.

Watching the two worried parents, the Seelie Queen smiled sweetly, "Why don't you go to her? Dae-Jung is not going anywhere tonight."

Suspicious of the fairy, but more concerned about their daughter, they agreed that it was in her best interest that they return home now, "We already have a lot to tell her."

"Go to her," The Seelie Queen gestured toward the exit, glad to see them from her sight.

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Nexus sent Stacy back to his mother, going back to Ash's room with Ben. If anything happened to inconvenience Ash, that was just too bad, because as far as everyone was concerned, Ash owed Nexus for her stupidity. Standing alone in the room with Ben, Nexus looked at him uncertainly, wondering how to act and where to sit. If she sat on the bed, it looked like she wanted to have sex, but if she sat on the floor, it looked like she was refusing to have sex. Unless if he sat down opposite her, then that should be alright, right? But what if he sat next to her? Crap, if only she could read his mind... Wait, Ben was a teenage boy, right? So that meant that there was only one thing on his mind anyways.

Sitting on the bed that wasn't Ash's, Nexus looked at Ben, impatiently waiting for him to finish the dilemma she was just having, "Take a seat already."

Taking a seat next to her, he chose to lay down and look at the ceiling, arms crossed under his head, "Some day, huh?"

She wrapped her arms around her knee, "You said it. Ben... Do you think that things are going to change? I mean, now that we're together..."

He snorted, clearly doubtful that much would change, "What do you expect to change? Our friends have probably been waiting for this almost as long as we have, and you know that my family adores you, for some reason..." He smiled at her, a wolfish grin on his handsome face, "But they'd be crazy not to. Speaking of crazy..." He trailed off, distracted by a nearby sound.

Nexus looked at him in concern, still probably on edge about things, "What?"

"Daddy has come back for his little girl a bit earlier than planned. If we hurry, and our friends are kind enough to make a distraction we can still - "

Not even hearing him anymore, she sprang from the bed, hand inches from accidentally colliding with Ben's face, "My parents are back?"

Sprinting from the room without another word, she flew through the hallways and down the front steps to the the entrance of the Institute. Walking up to the old building, they smiled as they saw their little girl running toward them ecstatically.

Magnus reached her first, so Alec had no choice but to give them an awkwardly angled side-hug, "Maybe we should leave you here more often."

She cleared her throat, collecting herself and backing away from them, "I guess I could handle that... So, what did you find?"

Unable to look her directly in the eye, they had hoped to ease into it, but seeing the expectant look on her face, they felt that it was better to just put it out there. Well, after they got inside, away from praying eyes and unfriendly ears. Ignoring the question for the time being, they walked into the Institute, Alec's arm around her shoulders, Magnus leading the way to the kitchen, so they could get a bite to eat while they talked.

Unexpectedly, nearly everyone was already in there, doing various things. Izzy was boiling water for tea, Clary was making a warm glass of milk while Jace held their son, Ash and Max where grabbing a midnight snack, and Ben was just lingering around. It was fairly obvious that he was waiting for Nexus, though he was too busy screwing with Max to make it too obvious to Alec and Magnus.

"Should we just go to the library?" Alec inquired in an offhand voice, clearly trying to sound casual, thinking that it was best that they did this alone.

Magnus shook his head firmly, "We're all family here, some of us more than others."

Ben didn't like the look that the warlock was giving him, so he quickly turned around and pretended to be busy rummaging in the cupboard. Nexus rolled her eyes at Ben's behavior, hoping that when the time came, he would face her parents like a man. Then again, judging from their work in the field, she could easily understand why anyone would be afraid of them. But sill, that was no excuse to chicken out!

But there were much more pressing matters at hand, so she snapped her focus back on Magnus as Alec called everyone else to attention, "So, what did you find?"

"Cupcake, you remember when I told you that your mother wasn't really a warlock, right?" Magnus had mentioned it in passing before, but he had danced around it so carefully, she had completely missed it.

Looking as if she had been slapped, Nexus wondered about her identity, and with sinking recollection of recent events, her fertility, "Are you serious?"

Alec rolled his eyes, knowing that she would rely too heavily on the fact that warlocks were infertile, "I wonder who could have foreseen that?"

Ignoring the Shadow Hunter's sarcasm, Magnus continued, noting the subtly green hue to Ben's face, "Your parents are fairies. Well, your mother was one. Cherb, we think that we found your birth father."

"Where?" She was dazed by this new information, but no less curious by her fathers' findings.

Taking a deep breath, Alec looked at his 'sexy, sexy warlock', "The Seelie Court."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Sorry, sorry, sorry! I never meant for it to take so long! I'm such a bad llama! Well, here is the next chapter to things, and hopefully, it won't be such a long time until the next chapter...


	14. Kendovich

Everything had fallen dead silent in the kitchen as all eyes fell on Nexus. Nobody knew what to say or how to react to the news, nobody, except for Ben. Overlooking the fact that her parents, both of them, were standing not five feet away, he went to her side, taking her in his arms as she fell forward in a daze. Burying her face in his shoulder as she teared up, he could think of nothing other than how this changed nothing in the way he felt about her. Watching the display, Alec's first instinct to pounce was tested, and it won the fight only to be held back by the somber look on Magnus' face.

"Lollipop," Magnus was more than a little upset by the news himself, and it was quite clear that he was less than happy to have to be the one to tell her, "Dae-Jung is a prisoner of the Seelie Queen, for crimes that include the suspected murder of his wife and their then-to-be born daughter."

She pushed away from Ben only enough to speak without being muffled, "Dae-Jung? Let me guess... Devon Grey was his wife... And I... I'm the daughter. Not the daughter of a Warlock, nor a Shadow Hunter, but a Fey. Still blessed in magic but not cursed for the sins of Lilith. All I am... All that I was... it was a lie."

Upset by the defeatist attitude she was wearing, Bennett shook her shoulders, jerking her back and forth, "No! This isn't a lie! You and me, we are real! You are still the woman I fell in love with, and this changes nothing! Nexus, you're still you. Alec and Magnus are still your parents, Izzy and Clary are still your aunts, Jace and Simon are your uncles, Ash and Max and Stacy are still your best friends and cousins, and I am still yours. Nexus, face it, you're stuck with us."

Magnus gave Ben a searching look, and Alec was keeping his eyes on his beloved daughter, nodding, "He's right. We're still your family, and we love you."

At that point, everyone began to chime in, saying how much that they loved Nexus and that they always would. She knew deep down that she would make it through this somehow, but because of how numb she felt right now, the knowledge that she would be alright seemed nonexistent. Those who knew her best suspected as much, but they hid their doubt behind their faith in the teen.

"I have to take a walk - alone." She looked at Ben as she began strolling towards the door, "I need to clear my head."

Nobody thought that it was a good idea to let her leave by herself, especially Jace, who recalled all too well his own six-hour walk. And yet...

"Get outta here." He shifted his son carefully as to not wake him. Clary would have beat the crap out of him for giving Nexus permission to leave, had he not been holding Stacy in his arms.

Gathering Jace's plan, or at least thinking that he did, Alec concurred with his brother, "She should have some space. Bennett, why don't you come take a walk with Magnus and myself? I'm sure that we have plenty to discuss."

Yelping on the inside, Ben allowed himself to be dragged away by the warlock, casting a last apprehensive look back at Nexus. Her back was already to him though, so he couldn't see her face. But, that was probably for the best, because if he had seen the look on her face, he wouldn't have let her go.

**XxX ****You Think You Love Me XxX**

Violets and poppy were blooming at the edge of the prison where Dae-Jung was being held, though it was not by his choice. For that, he could thank the wretched Seelie Queen. Taking a rather fortunate taking to the captive was his guard and son, Kendovich. Natalia Kendovich, the whelp's miserable mother, had been a devoted follower of Dae-Jung's since his migration from his homeland, and through the years, he had only to do one thing to keep her in his service. However, when he had married Devon, Natalia had refused to accept the marriage, and she had continued to pursue her former lover. The only way to keep his wife out of his past affairs was to take a secret mistress, but very soon after the affair began, the blackmailing-harpy from the underworld had become pregnant with his child. Dae-Jung had tried to kill the woman and her unborn baby, but...

Ever eager to please his father, the lanky fey offspring stood with his back firmly to his father's cell, as always, "The spawn of Lilith has began to uncover the trail. Father, shall I - "

He cut the boy off abruptly, which was nothing new, "No. No, I have a different task for you... I think it's time for Nexus to meet her family."

**XxX ****You Think You Love Me XxX**

In hindsight, maybe it wasn't such a good idea to out himself like he did to her parents, but it was too late for regrets now. It was the truth, and it was out there. Ben just wished that she had more predictable parents, because between the two of her fathers, he had no idea who the saner one was. Sure, Alec looked normal enough, but that was just a cover for the emotional basket-case that he was. Magnus, on the other hand, appeared just as wild as he was crazy, and that was saying something. Maybe it was all the glitter, but there was something mighty frightening about the warlock, especially when his daughter was involved. But the young werewolf couldn't blame them, because he knew almost as well as they did that Nexus was something important to be protected.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

And another chapter down! Woo, I'm on fire! Well, not actually, because that would hurt. Like hell. Well, at any rate, I'm finally explaining the whole Dae-Jung having another kid thing, so that's good! And Geez, does Ben have to be so critical of Magnus and Alec? Jerk! Sorry, I tend to get weirder when I'm tired... Um, so Kendovich is the boy's last name, and he doesn't yet have a first name... That's not very good! Well, he'll get one. Or will he? Heh, I'm really tired right now, my apologies. I think that that was all I wanted to say about this chapter... I hope. Oh well!


	15. This I Promise

Leading the young wolf down the hallways to the weapon room - and away from any witnesses - Alec opened the door and showed the wolf in first. Magnus entered the dark room last, closing the door behind him with a sinister snap. To heighten the mood, Alec drew the witchlight from his pocket and gave it to Magnus to hold while he swept Ben toward the shelves lined with ancient weaponry to reminiscence about a time before the accords. They were of course stretched accounts and less than half-truths, but either way, his words seemed to be working on the frightened cub. Magnus listened to Alec with amusement, spinning the witchlight around in his hands so that light and shadows danced from his fingertips and gleamed from deadly blades and stakes of silver.

"And do you know why I told you these never before heard stories?" Alec inquired lightly, as if they had only been talking about the weather and not gruesome death.

Ben shook his head, praying that this wasn't going to end with his disappearance, "To deepen the bonds between the Downworlders and the Shadowhunters?" His voice came out high, and it sounded very pinched, so the two knew that they were doing their job.

"No." Magnus shook his head, not a spike out of place. He smirked at Alec, taking over the conversation now, "He told you that so you know the dangers of messing with a shadow hunter. Do you know what happens to those who break the heart of a downworlder?"

Bennett gulped, shaking his head, "... You'll make me rue the day I was born?"

Glad that he got the message, Magnus dipped his head regally, "I will personally see to it that you will never stop suffering."

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Running down the stairs from the Institute, Nexus tried to shove everything from her mind as she ran, but the words of the Seelie Queen kept coming back to her. _Child, came with me, and you will understand everything... Even those dreams that haunt_ _you_. She had wanted to show her to her biological father, but why? Was it to undermine her parents? Was it all a ploy in order to bring her back into the midst of her real peoples? Or could there have been another, more sinister reason for the Queen's sudden interference? Was it possible that she had something to do with Dae-Jung and Devon Grey? And what of her nightmares? Was it somehow possible that her father, or a third party, had slipped passed her layers of protection?

No, she brushed that last possibility off, having complete faith in her father. _Magnus_. No, she scolded herself, Magnus was not Magnus and Alec was not Alec - they were her parents. She had even been named for the warlock before her mother's death, so that meant that her mother must have thought of Magnus as more of a father to her than her actual father. Magnus Bane and Alexander Lightwood were her fathers, not some spook who had been locked away this entire time. It was all about who raised you, not who contributed DNA.

So if they were still her parents, didn't that mean that she was still the same girl? Of course she would have liked to have said yes to that, but because of the shock, edged in doubt, her mind was too rattled to see that that she hadn't changed at all, only the information she had. Shock had a very nasty way of overshadowing reason.

"So you've returned already." The voice of the fairy hit Nexus like a ton of bricks, bringing the girl back to senses to realize that she had run all the way back to the Seelie Queen for whatever answers she held for the girl. She glanced at the fairy before her, suddenly regretting her run, because next to the clean creature, she was a mess - hair clung to her neck in sweat, her skin was shinning in an unflattering manner, and worst of all, she was breathing raggedly.

She found herself nodding to the messenger, walking behind him as he led her to the Seelie Court, and most startling of all, she did not look back once. She was entranced by the siren calling to her, not the candle that led her down into the earth, away from her friends and family. Nexus should have been more cautious, more aware of the fairy tricks, but the lack of sleep she had been enduring these past several nights was beginning to wear on her, to tear down her guards and seep into her very actions. It didn't help that she was distraught and emotionally compromised.

"Nexus Bane, you've come back to the halls of your kin I see." The Seelie Queen came out from behind a door hidden in the wall, "I trust that you've finally learned the truth those inferior creatures have tried to hide from you, you, poor child. Had your mother not chosen the likes of that Child of Lilith, you could have been royalty. You could have had everything your heart desired." The Queen lowered her hand to the girls wrist, taking it in a mock display of concern, "You have finally learned that your father is alive, but the question remains, what do you want?"

Nexus looked at the Queen, a ghost of a smile on her clearly inhuman lips, "Take me to him... I want to meet my father..."

Smiling as if the child had spoken some sort of releasing word, the Queen summoned a gangly boy about Nexus' age, vanishing suddenly as if she had never been there in the first place. The boy looked at Nexus for about a second before leading her down a number of passageways, "So, you're the legitimate one, the one born of his wife, the one destined to inherit everything. You look nothing like him."

Baffled by the boy's hostility, she asked him who he even was, "Sorry? Who are you, and how do you know who I am?"

The boy scoffed irritably, "You know nothing! It should have been me, you know that? But no, my mother had to frighten him away into the arms of your mother. You ignorant fool, I am Kendovich, the son of the fearsome - "

"Enough!" A rough male voice cracked like a whip of hell, coming from behind the walls of a nearly invisible cell door, "You had do best to mind yourself, lest I leave you with less than nothing! Kendovich, you whelp, go! Now!"

The boy bowed to the door, looking apologetic for his rash actions, backing away so that Nexus could look inside, her voice small and faint even to her own ears, "Dae-Jung?"

The thing inside of the cell was horrible, but from Alec's strict tutoring she knew what he was and that for what he was, he wasn't quite as horrible as she had first thought. Sensing his daughter's fear, the criminal smiled, acting almost like a father figure. Nexus couldn't quite imagine him as her own father, but she could see him as a daddy to another.

"Do not be afraid of me, my child. You look so much like your mother, like my beautiful Devon." His smile grew as he spoke of his late wife, making her think that he had truly cared about his family, or her mother at the very least, "Has life treated you fairly? The warlock raising you well? His Shadow-Hunter mate being kind?"

She bobbed her head ever so briefly, thinking back guiltily of her parents, "My parents have given me a good life, no, the best life... But what about you?" She began to tumble her words over themselves as she asked breathlessly, "How did you end up here in this place? Why did my mother take me from you? What happened? Who was the boy who brought me here? What am I?"

He chuckled, a cruel sound that made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle, "My child, you ask so many questions! I shall give you the answers that you seek, starting first with what you are. I, I am a dullahan born to a king, and your mother was a fey in origins, but certain tampering to her blood made her become a thing more like a warlock. That is probably why you can use magic like your Magnus Bane. It was such a burden, when Devon became sick... I tried so hard to cure her, but my tampering changed her, and it stayed her illness until it came back... We were so worried that you would contact it from her womb! When she lost her memories, she ran from me, thinking me evil. Worsening her condition was a crazed woman that I once knew. She was obsessed, and I tried to pacify her, but that only made matters worse. I regret it, and I regret it even more when I look upon the face of her son."

Glancing over her shoulder at where the boy had disappeared, Nexus felt a knot in her stomach, "Kendovich. That boy is my brother?"

Dae-Jung nodded, "Alas, he is. I try to do right by him, but he holds such hatred for Devon and his mother. It breaks my heart. The whole thing breaks my heart! When I tried to find your mother again, she was already near dead, and a will had already been redrawn, naming Magnus Bane as next in line to inherit you. And the Seely Court had by that time found evidence to place me at the scenes of many crimes I did not commit. The fools still believe the lies that had been told."

Nexus frowned, reaching to the bars of the cell, "I promise you father, I will find the truth!"

And so she resolved to help out her father...

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Wows. That's pretty... Well, why don't you fill in the rest? I mean, geez, you read it, didn't you? But I wonder who's telling the truth? Is Dae-Jung really innocent? Or is the Seely Court right? It was pretty fun writing Magnus/Alec speaking to Ben, I hope that you found it amusing!

Read and Review!


	16. Embrace the Dark Side

Alec sat with his back against Magnus' canary yellow bed, looking at the little girl in his arms, bundled up like a magenta colored loaf of bread. Nexus was so tiny, so fragile, and was someone else's baby... She was the daughter of one of Magnus' "old friends", which Alec correctly assumed meant that they had been an item in the past. The Shadowhunter knew that the warlock loved him more than anyone else, than any of his past lovers, but he still couldn't help but to feel the cold stab of jealousy. Devon, whoever and whatever she was, must have been a fairly close companion, considering that she had named her child after Magnus... If warlocks weren't infertile, he might have guessed that Magnus was really somehow the father, though that would make him a cheater, and no matter how insecure Alec got, he knew that that was one thing that Magnus was not.

Giggling with a spit bubble on the corner of her mouth, the baby beamed at him, somehow already fond of her new father. He hated to admit it, but she was cute. Great, the baby was cute... What if her adorable face somehow triggered a memory of Devon that made Magnus realize that he loved her more? He would lose everything... Unless...

He didn't have to lose anything, not if the baby somehow turned up dead... It would be so easy to make happen... He could make it look like an accident even, though he would be blamed with negligence... What was he thinking? ! Slapping himself mentally for having such horrible thoughts, Alec felt disgusted with himself. He was a good guy, so why in the world was he thinking of doing something that only a demon would do?

"Alk." The child grinned, speaking for the first time, "Alk."

"Aw, she's saying your name! I think that means that she likes you." Izzy stood in the doorway, arms crossed tight over her chest, a smirk on her painted face. Alec never could get over the sight of a bloated, pregnant Isabelle. An intrusive Izzy, on the other hand, was something he was more than familiar with.

Looking at his sister as she took the bundle in her arms, Alec wondered what she was doing at the apartment, "What are you doing here, Izzy?" His voice was less than welcoming, but she ignored him as she usually did, cooing to the baby.

"Did that nasty Shadowhunter scare you? Was he being a big meanie? If you grow up, I'm going to teach you how to wrap Alec around your little finger." She looked at her brother accusingly, "So, have you decided on how you're going to do it yet?"

He sputtered, face red, knowing that she would see through him and know exactly what he had been thinking not moments ago, "What? Do what? To what or whom? I..." He finished lamely, "Was holding the baby."

Rolling her coffee-colored eyes at her brother, she kissed the baby's head, "My adorable niece, that's who! Please Alec, I know you, and I know how you can get. But you aren't a bad person, because I know that you would never act on it. Being a parent is scary, trust me, and what's worse for you, you didn't get the time to prepare for it, but I know that you can do it."

Isabelle handed him back the baby, watching carefully as he held the literal bundle of joy in his arm, in awe as the baby wrapped her entire hand around his finger. At that moment, something in him clicked, rewriting his entire person to put her needs above everyone else's, even Magnus. In that one moment, he had fallen in love with his daughter and had become a father. In that moment, he swore to himself that he would never let anything hurt her, not if he could help it...

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Sitting back in his old room at the Institute, left unchanged since the time he had started to date Magnus, back to the bed just as it had been that day when he truly came to think of Nexus as his own daughter, Alec stared out of the open window, the breeze fluttering the curtains in an eerie way, letting the cool air seep inside of the room so that it was as cold as he felt hollow. He trusted Jace with _his_ life, and Magnus trusted him, albeit only because of everything that they had been through together (so grudgingly), but somehow, this felt so wrong to him. What if something had happened to Nexus, something that could never unhappen? Doubt gnawed at the Shadowhunter as he continued to watch the moon, blazing white against the pitch-black sky.

"I'm worried about her too, but that prick is right; there are some things that she has to do on her own and as her parents, it's our job to believe in her. Nexus is a strong girl, just like we raised her to be." Magnus stood in the doorway of his room, entry silent and welcome, like a physical ray of hope in the blackest darkness. But his words weren't enough to soothe the demon slayer, and he knew it too, "I think this is why that they don't allow my kind to adopt - The Clave knows that we would do anything in our power for our children, which they fear could led to their destruction."

Alec looked at Magnus, seeing him as if from a distance, "Then he wasn't so wrong... To love is to destroy, and to be loved is to be destroyed."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

So Alec has a darker side? In all seriousness, this was actually a good chapter to write. I really enjoyed it, and it felt so incredibly powerful... But maybe that's just me? Anyway, since I'm re-reading the books, that phrase kind of stuck out more than usual, so I ended up putting it in here. How Alec knows it is a bit beyond me, but hey, a lot can happen in 15+ years!


	17. Jace's Decision

He respected Jace more than almost anyone else, but this time he really had to wonder if the Shadowhunter was right about this one. His older brother, in name only, had supposedly gone through something similar before, but that didn't matter much in this case because Jace wasn't Nexus. Jace was arrogant, sure of himself, confident, and Nexus was more fragile than she let on. He knew that it couldn't have been easy to be adopted, let alone to a gay couple, and for one of them to be a Shadowhunter (no matter how prominent in Downworld the other one was)... Well, he was a bit surprised that she had managed as well as she had. He knew that she wasn't weak by any means, but having parents who used to be Shadowhunters (before his father became a werewolf and his mother just retiring), he understood what she had gone through in her personal life outside of their family circle.

But she never let that get her down, somehow, and that was one of the things he loved most about her - She had always had a sense of who she was, what she wanted, and what was important. She knew exactly what it was that had to be done, but more often than not, she had had been too soft-hearted to get it by herself and had to lean on her friends for support. Nexus was surrounded by a great group of people, all of whom loved her and would do anything for her, and she would lean on them not to do everything for her in most cases, but would look to them emotionally, and for years, she had been unable to look to him in the way that he had wanted her to, and now that she finally could, she had to do this on her own...

Things changed, but Ben knew two things that he could count on - His love for Nexus, and that whatever happened next, it would upheave everything that they had all known to be true...

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Nexus had made a promise, and by the powers of heaven and hell, it was one she meant to keep! Dae-Jung easily could have been lying about his innocence, but what if he wasn't? Her fathers, nay, her entire family had learned better than to judge anyone and to jump straight to one side or the other, so when she came forth with her intentions, surely they had to recognize that! But...

How would this effect her parents? They would be devastated when they learned that she had gone to visit the man that had had a hand in creating her, and they would almost certainly be hurt to hear that she was going to pursue the truth... They will probably view her actions not as a scholarary-type of endeavor but a selfish quest... And why shouldn't they? They had given her the perfect life, or as close to perfect as they could, but if it were true about Dae-Jung's standing, wouldn't anyone assume that her intentions were purely driven by the most impure of motivations?

But that wasn't why she had to do this...

Sensing the mental withdrawal as she contemplated her actions and their consequences - something that the child of himself and Devon Grey was certain to do - Dae-Jung spoke softly, if not with some urgency, "No matter what you decide to do my beautiful daughter, I wish you to know that I will understand. To help me will be no small task, and any young woman will no doubt have her own life to live without something like this to hamper her... Just know that I love you, my child."

While she recalled virtually nothing about the woman that had given birth to her, there must have been something in her father to make her mother marry him, something good, and he really did seem to care about her, "I promise you, I will find out what happened, and if you're telling the truth, I will find a way to help you out of here... I promise!"

She had to know who her father was, because she wanted to learn exactly where she had come from... Her nightmares of her mother had be coming from somewhere, and if not some latent desire to learn her true origins, than what? There had be something more to her life, and she was going to find out what it was...

No matter what...

**XxX You Think You Love Me XxX**

Jace knew better than anyone else what was undoubtedly running through her mind, the confusion about what she had to do versus what actually had to be done, the fear coursing through her veins, devouring her whole as she struggled with the risk of disappointing everyone she loved most in the world. He had been in her shoes, and he knew how frightening it was to be a teenager in that kind of position, but that was exactly why she had to go out on her own like this, to face her demons by herself. Nexus was more than just his student, she was his family, so he hated having to be the one with the target on his back, the asshole that forced her into the open without a safety net, but he knew that experience was the best teacher, that if she didn't do this, she would never grow...

And it was wasn't like she would be left alone - he never knew anyone so lucky to have such a supportive group. In truth, he was a tad bit envious of his niece...

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

Thanks to the prodding of JessalynBane, I have finally gotten around to finishing this chapter! I want to finish this story, because I do like the idea, but right now I have no idea how long that can take! I wish that I could be a tad more reassuring, but I just don't know. Anyways, I hope that you (those of you who stuck around this long) enjoy this chapter! Even though it is the shortest one yet, and not a lot happens in it... At least you now know that it will continue, slowly but surely...


	18. The Untimely EndNotice

**Notice:**

I am sincerely sorry, but I find myself unable/willing to complete this story, but I can't find it in myself to delete it either, so I am just calling it an incomplete. I am very sorry to any and all that have grown to care for it in any way, but I have to do what I feel is the best, and regrettably, this is it...


End file.
